Final published version
Licence: CC BY: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - The #TeachSDGs movement and global citizenship education
T2 - Soft openings, pluriversal possibilities
AU - Kral, Thomas
PY - 2025/2/9
Y1 - 2025/2/9
N2 - This article examines how global citizenship education (GCE) is interpreted and understood by the #TeachSDGs movement, an online transnational, cross-level group of educators dedicated to disseminating the UN Global Goals (SDGs) through pedagogical resources. Drawing on Andreotti’s (2014) soft-to-critical GCE framework, the study deploys thematic and critical discourse analysis to assess the #TeachSDGs movement’s blogs, social media posts and lesson materials. The advocacy group’s online posts and classroom initiatives are found to be well-intentioned but risk reinforcing the colonially infused power dynamics and neoliberal logic responsible for the planet’s ecological crises and socioeconomic injustices. As such, seemingly benevolent narratives around technology, collaboration and empathy are interrogated for their uncritical and therefore, a soft approach to GCE. However, the study also reflects on the work of a minority of the movement’s members who confront colonial legacies, political hegemonies and power disparities, thereby engendering a more critical understanding of GCE. Lastly, the paper discusses the #TeachSDGs movement’s potential to imagine pluriversal possibilities, a postcolonial, post-development world consisting of many radically interconnected worlds (Escobar, 2020).
AB - This article examines how global citizenship education (GCE) is interpreted and understood by the #TeachSDGs movement, an online transnational, cross-level group of educators dedicated to disseminating the UN Global Goals (SDGs) through pedagogical resources. Drawing on Andreotti’s (2014) soft-to-critical GCE framework, the study deploys thematic and critical discourse analysis to assess the #TeachSDGs movement’s blogs, social media posts and lesson materials. The advocacy group’s online posts and classroom initiatives are found to be well-intentioned but risk reinforcing the colonially infused power dynamics and neoliberal logic responsible for the planet’s ecological crises and socioeconomic injustices. As such, seemingly benevolent narratives around technology, collaboration and empathy are interrogated for their uncritical and therefore, a soft approach to GCE. However, the study also reflects on the work of a minority of the movement’s members who confront colonial legacies, political hegemonies and power disparities, thereby engendering a more critical understanding of GCE. Lastly, the paper discusses the #TeachSDGs movement’s potential to imagine pluriversal possibilities, a postcolonial, post-development world consisting of many radically interconnected worlds (Escobar, 2020).
U2 - 10.37074/jalt.2025.8.S1.11
DO - 10.37074/jalt.2025.8.S1.11
M3 - Journal article
VL - 8
SP - 112
EP - 121
JO - Journal of Applied Learning & Teaching
JF - Journal of Applied Learning & Teaching
SN - 2591-801X
IS - Special Issue 1
ER -